Steroid Nation (TM) is an online journal looking at the use of anabolic steroids (and performance enhancing drugs PEDs, HGH, doping) in sports, youth, and society. By Gary Gaffney, M.D., from the University of Iowa, College of Medicine.

09/12/2007

David Boston not in ecstasy as Bucs cut him from roster

Looks like the Tampa Bay Bucs released David Boston from a contract. Boston, whose career maneuvered through steroid suspensions, and multiple injuries was arrested for public intox, after he was found sleeping at the wheel of his car, motor running. Boston seriously contended for a starting WR spot with the Bucs. Looks like he just ran a crossing pattern with the management who crossed him off the roster. (More from Tampa here and here)

The arrest video was made public on the Internet; we didn't see signs of alcohol intoxication from the player. Boston performed well on cerebellar tests (walking a straight line etc.), however he appeared a bit belligerent. We even thought the arresting cop behaved in an annoying way. We were right/wrong. Boston's urine contained a huge level of GHB, and thus he faces intox charges; there was no alcohol reported.

GHB is gaba-hydroxybutyric acid -- or Ecstasy -- is a GABA-related drug, sold as Xyrem, a drug for narcolepsy. GHB can be synthesized by your friendly neighborhood chemist for sale to bodybuilders, and ne'er-do-wells; the bodybuilder thinks it packs on muscle (by releasing growth hormone) the antisocial thinks the drug is a date-rape drug.

Interesting because GHB is not covered, according to sources, by the NFL's drug policy; however arrests for public intox are covered by the league's personal conduct policy.

According to published reports, Boston had
870 micrograms per milliliter of GHB in his urine. Cynthia
Lewis-Younger, medical director for the Florida Poison Information
Center in Tampa, told the Tampa Tribune that the amount is four times
what one would expect to see in the urine of someone who received a
prescribed, legitimate dose.

The drug is believed by some of to have bodybuilding
properties, but that has not been proven. GHB is an illegal substance
under law, but the NFL does not test for the drug, so it does not fall
under the league’s substance abuse policy. Nevertheless, NFL
spokesperson Greg Aiello said a violation of substance abuse law is a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy.

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry detected GHB in 12 of 40
patients with agitation, with serum levels of 108 to 422 mg/L and urine
levels of 557 to 8221 mg/L. Of these 12 patients, 4 were also confirmed
negative for stimulant co-intoxicants by toxicologic screen.

Fourteen
presentations with agitation also included bizarre features (“doing
somersaults,” “snapping lips and tongue, spastic type movements and
bizarre behavior and speech,” “hugging trees, laying his head on the
sidewalk,” “licking his own arms,” “climbing into a mailbox wearing
fishnet thong, unsure why”) or self-injurious behaviors (“beating his
head with his fist,” “threw himself against a wall”).

Boston's 870 mg/ml of GHB in urine places him in the spectrum mentioned above. His video behavior revealed no somersaults, however. Now he would appear to have plenty of time to practice the 'climb into mailbox wearing fishnet thong' competition.

Overall signs of impairment included erratic driving (severe lane
travel, collisions, and near-collisions), slurred speech,
disorientation, slow to react, shaking, agitation, unable to focus,
poor coordination and balance, poor performance in field sobriety
tests, somnolence, and unconsciousness. On only one occasion were other
drugs present in the subject's blood (thiopental and diazepam), which
may have contributed to the observed driving impairment. During several
police interviews, the subject stated he was addicted to GHB and
gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), and admitted to previously taking
“RenewTrient“, “Dream On“, “V35“, “fitness supplements“, and/or “GBL“.
During the same period as his DUI arrests, the subject had been
admitted at least six times to different hospitals for GHB/GBL
intoxications.

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